Two genes behind high blood pressure
POSTED February 16, 2009 - 21:49 | POSTED BY Nisha Bhatia
Last edited by Shikha Patial on February 16, 2009 - 22:42
Boston, February 16: According to a new study, high blood pressure may be caused due to two genesdefine that are responsible for eliminating excess sodium from the body.
About half a billion people across the globe suffer from high blood pressure or hypertension.
High blood pressure is a deadly health problem. It can make a person vulnerable to stroke, heart attack, heart failure and kidney failure. It can get genetically transmitted to next generations well.
Hypertension may get triggered due to factors such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle, smoking and chronic illnesses like diabetes, kidney disease and high cholesterol.
In the study, genetic data of about 30,000 people from the United States, Sweden and Finland was analyzed by Dr. Christopher Newton-Cheh of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and colleagues. Analyzing the data, the researchers tried to understand the functions of two genesdefine called NPPA and NPPB.
The scientists found that two variants of the genes drastically raised the risk of developing high blood pressure among the study subjects.
Natriuretic peptides are produced by the two genes, which regulate sodium quantity in the blood. Natriuretic peptides are the proteins that are engaged in relaxing blood vessels and removing excess dietary salt through urine.
Researchers observed that those participants who had one of the two gene variants were 18 percent more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than those had none or one of the two gene variants.
Those who had the other gene variant were at 11 percent higher risk of developing high blood pressure and other health hazards related to high blood pressure.
In a telephone interview, Newton-Cheh said, "It does not explain all of high blood pressure. It does not explain all of the fact that it runs in families, only a portion of it. And it's very likely that there are other common genetic differences that contribute to the population variation in hypertension."
Newton-Cheh remarked that a group of experts led by Dr. John Burnett (of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota) recently tested an oral drug on lab animals. The drug has the ability to mimics one of the proteins and can effectively lower the blood pressure.
Such a drug can be beneficial for patients of hypertension, study researchers said.
The findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Genetics.
